Google Ends China Search Censorship, Redirects Users to Hong Kong

Google has officially ended censoring search results in China. Google has shut down its Chinese search site at Google.cn, and is redirecting its users to its Hong Kong, Google.com.hk.Â Google.com.hk includes a note in Chinese that reads ‘Welcome to Google China’s new home.’

Google explains, ” Users visiting Google.cn are now being redirected to google.com.hk, where we are offering uncensored search in simplified Chinese, especially designed for users in mainland China and delivered via our servers in Hong Kong. Users in Hong Kong will continue to receive their existing uncensored, traditional Chinese service, also from Google.com.hk. Due to increased load on our Hong Kong servers and the complicated nature of these changes, users Â may see some slowdown in service or find some products temporarily inaccessible as we switch everything over.”

“Figuring out how to make good on our promise to stop censoring search on Google.cn has been hard. We want as many people in the world as possible to have access to our services, including users in mainland China, yet the Chinese government has been crystal clear throughout our discussions that self-censorship is a non-negotiable legal requirement. We believe this new approach of providing uncensored search in simplified Chinese from Google.com.hkÂ is a sensible solution to the challenges we’ve facedâ€”it’s entirely legal and will meaningfully increase access to information for people in China. We very much hope that the Chinese government respects our decision, though we are well aware that it could at any time block access to our services. We will therefore be carefully monitoring access issues, and have created the new web page,Â which we will update regularly each Â day, so that everyone can see which Google services are available in China. Finally, we would like to make clear that all these decisions have been driven and implemented by our executives in the United States, and that none of our employees in China can, or should, be held responsible for them.”

The Awakening is the stage a lot of people in America have been in, black or white. While it’s seems falriy easy to get into this stage, it’s significantly harder to get out of. You can either a) avoid taking racial risks and remain stuck in this stage, b) deny inequality and obstruct the improvement of race relations or the rare c) seek a deeper understanding of race issues and lay the foundation to move forward to next stage. In an ideal world everyone would pick C, or in an even more ideal world there would be no inequality to deal with in the first place, but I digress. It’s very easy for people to recognize the inequality, racism, and different racial barriers in the world, but it’s another thing entirely to do something about. It’s also very easy for someone to make progress then enter the reversal stage. I’ve had a friend personally talk to me about various racial issues ranging from racism, to how people censor their words on television (what I now know is political correctness,) and other various topics people tend to avoid. Then, when he went to college, had negative experiences with the colored people at his college and completely regressed. He now chooses to avoid all of the topics we used to talk about, and if we do manage to talk about them, you can now hear the anger in his voice about people of color. Even though it takes months, even years to make progress; it only takes a couple of negative experiences to ruin all the progress that has been made. I used to keep a journal, but only when I was very young. I never thought up keeping one as a got older as I thought the idea to be silly. However, reading the journal from SOC 119 from a few years back has given me new perspective. I find it to be more personable at times when you actually see and read someone’s thoughts as opposed to them just talking about it. The way this individual wrote his journal let’s a reader completely connect and understand him. You can see his views on being white, how he feels about the benefits white people get, and how he feels about people of color. At first he was motivated, even happy to look into his family history. Then he started feeling white guilt when he learned of the benefits white people received. Then the people of color talked about it constantly around him, and directed his hate towards them. This is only one example of the changes and swings people can go through. You can go from loving everything about Mexico from one visit, to hating it the next. We, as humans, are funny people. We can shun things from our mind after just one experience without a second thought that can benefit us in the long run. While at the same time constantly turn to something that effects us in a negative way.